Excited Electronic States and Ionic States of Molecular Oxygen

Abstract

Since molecular oxygen O2 is one of the most fundamental and practically important molecules in its chemical and biochemical reactions, it is very important to clarify its excited electronic states, including various Rydberg states, as much as possible. So far, two comprehensive review articles have been published on molecular oxygen by Krupenie [I] and Michels [2], summarizing the experimental and theoretical spectroscopic data of O₂ and its ions O⁻ ₂, O⁺ ₂, and O²⁺ ₂ published up to 1976. Molecular constants of O₂ and its ions have been compiled in detail by Huber and Herzberg [3]. All these spectroscopic data [1–3] are predominantly associated with one-photon-allowed excited electronic states.